He was under sentence of death!
There were various stories told of his capture, but I think the
following is the true account. It appears that he and his gang made
their appearance from time to time in the forest round the well-known
watering-place of Borsek. When visitors were on their way to the baths,
they were frequently stopped by the robbers in a mountain pass, in the
immediate neighbourhood of a dense forest that stretches far away for
miles and miles over the frontier. It was the custom of the robbers to
demand all the money, and they would relieve the travellers of their fur
cloaks and overcoats, and other useful articles; but if they did not
offer any resistance, they were permitted to go on uninjured, to take
their cure at the baths. I should doubt, however, that anybody would be
welcome there without a well-filled purse; at least I judge so from what
I heard of the eminently commercial character of the place.
The robbers had the game in their own hands for a long while, but they
made a mistake one fine day. They stopped a handsome equipage, which
seemed to promise a good haul; but lo, behold, it was the
_Obergespannirz_, the lord-lieutenant of the county! He had four good
horses, and so saved himself by flight. But the authorities now really
bestirred themselves, and the soldiers were called out to exterminate
this troublesome brood. They were accompanied by a renowned bear-slayer
who knew the forest well.
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